Terretelle part 1

I'm getting around a bit more now that we can travel within Belgium again but have been wondering what to do with all my enforced free time.  Stuck in a dilemma whether to try and catch up on the birds I've missed so far this year, see as many butterflies as possible, or try for some new dragonflies, I went back to a great little reserve in Belgian Luxembourg on Thursday.  This is primarily a butterfly reserve but, having not been south of Brussels so far this year, there were a few potential birds to add to my year list too.  Sure enough, as soon as I got there, I was watching the first of many singing Lesser Whitethroats, soon to be followed by Yellowhammer (with recently fledged young), a heard-only Nightingale and one Melodious Warbler.  The only bird I'd expected but hadn't yet seen was a Red-backed Shrike until I came to what looked like some perfect habitat, thought to myself there's gotta be one here, and then spotted this male right on cue.

I was there nice and early and the first couple of hours were all about the birds but, around 11am, the butterflies started becoming more active and this female Broad-bodied Chaser perched nicely alongside the track.

I thus headed towards the meadow where I've seen fritillaries on previous visits but was stopped in my tracks when another dragonfly landed right beside me.  I didn't have a clue what it was but knew it was something I'd never seen before and it too sat still for plenty of photo's, allowing me to identify it once I got home as Green-eyed Hooktail.

As if a lifer wasn't enough, I then rounded a corner only to find my second ever Common Clubtail also sitting on the path.

Of course, there were some great butterflies around too but, since I took so many photo's of them, I'll save them for the next post.

ADHD warblers

Last weekend, I made another visit to my Brussels patch, this time tallying 46 species.  When I arrived, there was lots of Reed Warbler song but also something in the distance which sounded much faster.  Sure enough, once I reached where it was coming from, there was the distinctively jumbled and hurried collection of calls which make up the song of a Marsh Warbler coming from the reeds.  I've an excellent track record with this species at this site, since there have only been four previous records, three of which were mine.  Two other good birds for the reserve were a fly-by Hobby and a female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, only the second I've found on my patch, feeding a recently fledged chick.
Then, on Monday, I returned to the place in East Flanders I discovered late last summer when I twitched Little Crake.  I was not quite sure what to expect since I have never been there in the spring but it seemed to have a good collection of species which I would normally get at the coast.

This was the sight that greeted me upon my arrival; two sleepy Spoonbills accompanied by lots of feeding Black-tailed Godwits.  I'd already heard Golden Orioles on the way in and they continued to sing all morning, with me eventually managing to glimpse one in flight.  My ears were not quite ready for the onslaught of warbler song, however, since the reeds were full of singing Marsh Warblers and Common Whitethroats, plus smaller numbers of Reed, Sedge and Cetti's Warblers, with a few Bluethroats and Reed Buntings also trying to make themselves heard.  I'm a little out of practice, having been stuck in Brussels for most of the spring, so it was quite difficult trying to recognise the various species with such a constant cacophony.  I have never seen so many Marsh Warblers, though, and even noticed one trying to sing and feed at the same time, as if it couldn't make up its mind what to do first!

In addition, there was this flotilla of baby Shelducks with what appeared to be a Coot as their nanny, two pairs of Common Terns nesting on the rafts built especially for them, two Avocet and two Greenshank.  I also glimpsed what I was convinced was a Great Reed Warbler disappear into the reeds but, despite waiting for over an hour, didn't once hear it sing.  I wasn't convinced, therefore, but later found out a pair was singing in the exact spot in early May so they are probably busy now feeding young.  This was a wonderful alternative to the much longer (and still prohibited) journey to the coast and provided ten new birds for my year list, with this Black-tailed Skimmer also being my first of the year.

Back to business

We've still got a long, long way to go before we can even contemplate business as usual but, with the gradual relaxation of the confinement measures in Belgium, I was at least able to get out of Brussels for the first time since the beginning of March.  I thus visited perhaps my favourite nature reserve in Belgium, the heathlands along the Dutch border.  Naturally, visiting a totally new habitat I've not been able to get to so far this year provided a bunch of new species for my year list - Little Ringed Plover, Mediterranean Gull, Cuckoo, Skylark, Woodlark, Common Redstart, Tree Pipit and Reed Bunting.  There were lots of Common Redstarts around, and it was lovely just to be surrounded by birdsong once again, with a constant chorus of Tree Pipits, Willow Warblers and Stonechats.

This photograph of a singing Tree Pipit shows why they come all the way back from Africa each year since all those little black dots are flies.  With so many of them, the pipits have no trouble finding plenty of food for their offspring.  Most exciting of all though was a Peregrine I witnessed divebombing a Goshawk, after which the Goshawk took refuge in a patch of trees and seemed reluctant to take flight again!
The heathland is also a great place for dragonflies, with hundreds of Four-spotted Chasers, one of my favourites, but also this Northern White-faced Darter, which is not found anywhere else in Belgium.

As for butterflies, Green Hairstreak is pretty widespread but at is most numerous here, while the lovely Chequered Skipper is another species which is more or less restricted to this habitat so I don't get to see it very often.  This one had me lying on my stomach trying to get close enough for a decent picture and I'm quite pleased with the result.

Confinement birding part 8

After such a successful week the week before last, I'm starting to run out of migrants I can reasonably expect to find in Brussels.  This past week I made two trips into the forest, however, to catch up with a singing Wood Warbler and a pair of Hobby, which look like they might be breeding.  On the way to the Wood Warbler, I spotted this pair of Mandarin Ducks with six very young ducklings.

The Wood Warbler showed extremely well, as opposed to the Hobbies, which were calling the whole time but only one of which allowed me the briefest of glimpses.  I presume the female is already sitting on the nest.  Whilst waiting for them to appear, though, this rather bold Song Thrush kept me entertained by repeatedly coming back to where I was standing in order to catch worms.

Confinement birding part 7

This past week has been pretty productive for my year list.  Last Monday, I did an evening walk in the Sonian Forest in the hope of finding a roding Woodcock.  Whilst I was waiting, I heard a strange snorting sound and looked around to find this Roe Deer staring at me.  A fox also made a brief apearance and, after an hour's wait, a Woodcock finally came roding past at 21:40.  I only got to see it very briefly but the good thing about displaying Woodcocks is that they usually fly along the same flight path at regular intervals.  I thus positioned myself where it had flown and, sure enough, just seven minutes later it reappeared right above my head so that I could even hear the soft croaking sounds in between the much louder, explosive 'pissip' calls.  Mission accomplished, therefore, with the added bonus of several calling Tawny Owls on the way home.  On Wednesday, I twitched a Pied Flycatcher which was discovered on the edge of Woluwe Park at the end of April and seems to have set up territory.  It was still singing constantly when I was there but was difficult to see since it was sticking to the treetops.  The ponds nearby held three Common Sandpiper, another year tick, and I then made the most of the early start to visit a few other places, ending up with an excellent day list of 56 species, including the two below.

On Thursday, three more year ticks were reported from St Josse cemetary, so I did another quick twitch hoping to find at least one of them.  At first, the cemetary didn't seem to hold much but I soon found a male Wheatear, then another, then yet another plus a female, exceding my expectations since only 3 had been reported.  With these still around, there was a good chance the other two species were still there so I was very pleased, although unsurprised, to then locate this dapper, male Whinchat.

The third target took a bit of work but I eventually managed to locate a very brown-looking Ring Ouzel, probably a young male, which was very shy and only showed very briefly.  Another walk in the forest over the weekend provided some long overdue House Martins near one of their few Brussels colonies, followed by a Spotted Flycatcher I was very pleased to locate by its faint, buzzy call, thus making a total of nine new species for the year, all in Brussels.  Fingers crossed, the restrictions will continue to be relaxed and I'll be able to go elsewehere as of 18 May.

Confinement birding part 6

I finally made another visit to my Brussels patch last week, the first one since mid-March, but it was unusually quiet.  I only managed to record 38 species whereas my first three visits of the year produced 42, 42 and 41 species, and I'd expect more rather than less species now that most of the migrants have arrived.  This pair of Pochard, a really nice-looking duck, were part of a group of eleven, which is a good number for this time of year.  I presume they were congregating prior to migration so I don't expect them to be there the next time I visit.  The Great Tits nesting on my building are now bringing a constant supply of caterpillars and the local Long-tailed Tits, which seem to be nesting in the same bush as last year, were vigourously chasing a Jay from their territory this morning.  The only surprise of this past week was a Willow Warbler giving some brief bursts of subsong in my neighbouring park.  No doubt a migrant since they do not breed here, it must have been brought down by the rain showers and was gone again the next day.